Rich Hansen's Take
HANSEN: On to the New Year - Fights to Make After UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Event
Jan 1, 2012 - 8:30:46 AM HANSEN: On to the New Year - Fights to Make After UFC 141 "Lesnar vs. Overeem" Event

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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist

UFC 141 and 2011 are now both in the rear view mirror. UFC 141 was, in retrospect, a historic event, as it is the last time we will ever see Brock Lesnar fight a mixed martial arts fight. 2011 was the most important year in the history of the sport, what with the UFC buying Strikeforce and signing with Fox and all. But before we can fully move on to the New Year, there are a few loose ends to tie up. One specific loose end to tackle is to figure out what's next for come of the competitors from UFC 141. So to that end, let's pull out our crystal balls and predict the future, shall we?

We'll start with the easy ones, first. Alistair Overeem is going to fight Junior dos Santos, and Brock Lesnar is going to fight Steve Austin, perish the thought. You have to figure that the UFC is going to want to pit Overeem with dos Santos on the July 4 weekend card. But with Independence Day here in the colonies falling on a Wednesday, that means we're looking at June 30, or July 7 for that heavyweight title fight. As for Lesnar versus Austin, whilst I don't care in the slightest, let's shoot for Wrestlemania, 2013.

Nate Diaz answered a lot of questions on Friday night. I thought his fight with Donald Cerrone was going to be a real coin flip, but I leaned towards Cerrone once I remembered how awful Diaz looked in his scuffle with Rory MacDonald. What my limited little brain failed to consider was that Diaz took that fight in the welterweight division, where he was the much smaller man. Clearly his home is at lightweight.

There is one school of thought that says Diaz should fight the winner of the UFC 144 fight between Anthony Pettis and Joe Lauzon, with the winner of that fight getting a shot at the UFC Lightweight Champion. But the timing doesn't work, since Frankie Edgar will fight Ben Henderson on the same card as the Pettis versus Lauzon fight. Also, if Lauzon beats Pettis, how juiced is anyone going to be for a Diaz vs. Lauzon fight as a title eliminator? Sure the fight itself could be great, what with their talents, styles, and TUF 5 backstory and all. But if you make that fight, then it cannot be a title eliminator.

So I say that the winner of the Melvin Guillard versus Jim Miller fight in January should be next for Nate Diaz. And assuming Anthony Pettis defeats Joe Lauzon in February, Pettis will be next in line for the lightweight title. The winner of Diaz vs. Guillard-Miller would be a credible contender for a late 2012 title shot.

Donald Cerrone got played, plain and simple. He let Nate Diaz into his head, and he paid for it with his first loss in the UFC. Personally, I want to see him fight Gray Maynard, like tomorrow, but there are rumors that Maynard will be fighting in Montreal against Clay Guida this March. So, working under the assumption that Maynard is out of the mix for Cerrone, lets put Cerrone in with the loser of the Melvin Guillard versus Jim Miller fight. We all know how the UFC prefers to pit guys coming off of losses against each other, and both Miller and Guillard are tough sumbitches, just like Cerrone wants to face. And lets face it, if Guillard loses to Miller, who wouldn't be jazzed for Cerrone versus Guillard?

Alexander Gustafsson is an easy call for me. I saw holes in his boxing defense on Friday night, so let's make him improve his standup defense. Maybe he should be put in against a savvy boxer who has the ability to take advantage of even the slightest openings. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira fits the bill perfectly. This makes sense for Nogueira as well, since he's always being paired against wrestlers. Let's see him really get the chance to stand and bang, right?

Johny Hendricks wants a title shot. I want Kate Beckinsale. While Hendricks might actually get his title shot, it is not coming to him anytime soon. There are just way too many guys with much bigger resumes and more name recognition in the 170 pound shark tank. If everything goes right for Hendricks, he might get his title shot in two years. Hendricks is 7-1 in the UFC, and is riding a three fight win streak over T.J. Waldburger, Mike Pierce, and Jon Fitch. It's a shame Pierce is fighting Josh Koscheck at UFC 143, because that slot with Koscheck would be perfect.

Unfortunately for the purpose of this exercise, Koscheck isn't the only big name UFC welterweight who is already booked (or unavailable). Looking at the top welterweights, St-Pierre, Diaz, Ellenberger, Fitch, Shields, Condit, Koscheck, Penn, Sanchez, Kampmann, Alves, Johnson, and MacDonald are already accounted for. The best ranked welterweights who are looking for a fight are Siyar Bahadurzada or Brian Ebersole. Exactly. So it seems likely Hendricks is going to have to wait a couple months until the aforementioned fighters get through their scheduled fights before Hendricks learns what's next. Since all I can do is guess, let's go with the most fun fight and say, um (drum roll please...) Josh Koscheck, after he beats Mike Pierce.

Jimy Hettes is a name I struggled with. He's 2-0 in the UFC, undefeated in his career outside of the UFC as well. But his wins are over Alex Caceres, who has since dropped to bantamweight, and Nam Phan, who has dropped to 5-8 in his last 13 fights. So while Hettes has a bright future, let's keep that future alive and not stick him in with Jose Aldo just yet, ok? A bunch of names came to mind right away, but none were just right. I think Ross Pearson is the right way to go. Let's see Hettes versus a brawler with even more name value than Nam Phan possesses. This is a logical fight for Pearson as well, since he's still only fought once time at 145 in the UFC.

Other fights that I want to see coming out of UFC 141 include Diego Nunes versus Robert Peralta, Dong Hyun Kim versus Dan Hardy, and Jacob Volkmann versus Sam Stout (if he defeats Thiago Tavares in Brazil) or Gleison Tibau.